The Night Bookmobile

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REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Library Journal Review
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Summary / Annotation
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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Does Not Live Up to the Hype. submitted by MariaK on January 11, 2011, 1:00pm There was a lot of buzz about this book in the graphic novel world, so I was excited to read it...but boy, what a disappointment! The author takes an interesting, magic-realist premise -- a woman finds a mobile library containing everything she has ever read -- and make into a book that is not only flat but slightly disturbing. The art is just not up to snuff -- it looks inexpert and amateurish -- and the story's conclusion rubbed me the wrong way. I would recommend Hicksville for a graphic novel with a similar flavor but better execution.

No submitted by jaegerla on January 31, 2011, 12:02pm Not impressed by the artwork or the storyline.

Tragic... that this was ever published submitted by CasualTim on January 31, 2011, 2:49pm MariaK is right... but is too kind to "The Night Bookmobile." The art isn't the only thing that's amateurish (in itself not necessarily a problem. See toothpaste for dinner, etc., where the content contributes to the value of that style of art). I'd venture to say I can't imagine how "The Time Traveler's Wife" or any of Niffenegger's other works got published, considering the wholly mundane writing, uninteresting method of exposition, and self-indulgent lack of imagination she displays here. The half-of-a-premise *is* interesting... until you realize that's all it is. And that it's going to be described with the adeptness, care, and intricacy that my pug displays when she's telling me the UPS truck just drove by.

I'd provide room to blame this book's problems on the editing - Niffenegger notes that the story (previously published... Zoetrope, are you kidding me?) comes out of a longer tale she's working on, but her afterword and after-afterword are roughly as necessary and well-written as the book itself. This book, and Zoetrope, The Guardian, Publisher's Weekly, Library Journal, and any other trusted sources who reviewed this work with blind praise deserve to have their knuckles rapped for the way the fanatical promotion of this kind of work stifles creativity.

A special note to librarians and other book-centric individuals. The title and idea of this book is of special interest to book lovers, but the actual message of the book is surprisingly harmful to the image of people who read, and serves only to support and increase the stereotypes they might suffer from.

Better Text than Art submitted by sdunav on July 3, 2011, 9:45pm An interesting short story/graphic novel about readers. From the "After Words":

"...a story about a woman's secret life as a reader. As I worked it also became a story about the claims that books place on their readers, the imbalance between our inner and outer lives, a cautionary tale of the seduction of the written word. It became of vision of the afterlife as a library, of heaven as a funky old camper filled with everything you've ever read."

I think I would have given this five stars if the illustrations had wowed me as much as the text. Niffenegger illustrated it herself, and although she didn't do a terrible job, my graphic novel standards are pretty high

Cool idea, depressing execution, mediocre art submitted by apknapp on August 11, 2013, 11:53am Neat concept--every one of us has a 'bookmobile' containing everything we've ever read. It's your history, or your soul, or something. Cool, right? But the story is actually about a woman so obsessed with reading and with once again finding her bookmobile that she just stops living her life, gives up, immerses herself entirely in books and abandons reality. In the end, it was a bummer of a story whose illustrations really weren't great.